10 Hilariously Bad Comic Book Panels You Won't Believe Exist
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00:00Now, although comic books are a deeply entertaining medium of storytelling,
00:04some of the art can look preposterous out of context. If you don't know anything about the
00:08Guardians of the Galaxy, you'll be baffled if you pick up a random issue and see a drawing
00:12depicting a sentient tree and a gun-toting raccoon fighting a space gorilla. As ridiculous as that
00:19sounds, comic fans understand panels like this because it makes sense in context. But sometimes,
00:24even if you understand that context, there are certain comic book panels which have become
00:29infamous due to either abysmal artwork, embarrassing typos, or hilarious continuity
00:34errors. And that's what we're here to look at today, as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:38and these are 10 Hilariously Bad Comic Book Panels You Won't Believe Exist.
00:4210. Is She Decapitated? Dark Knight III Master Race No. 6
00:48At the end of Frank Miller's Dark Knight III No. 6, there's a side story where Batgirl and
00:53her sidekicks face off against Lara, the daughter of Superman and Wonder Woman.
00:57Like most of Miller's work, the issue is filled with over-sexualized art of female characters,
01:02and this is most notable in the opening image, which depicts Wonder Woman and Lara hunched over
01:07at an awkward angle to highlight their clenched butt cheeks. Amazingly, this isn't actually the
01:12worst aspect of this panel, because if you look at Lara's head, you'll notice that it's lobbed
01:16back at a 90-degree angle. I know that she has superpowers up the wazoo, but I'm pretty sure
01:21that Lara's certain skill set doesn't include being able to turn her spine into liquid. It's
01:26genuinely baffling how a professional illustrator could mess up this badly. Drawing dynamic action
01:32or authentic facial expressions is definitely tough, but on the other hand, drawing a person
01:36so that her head looks like it's attached to her bloody body shouldn't prove challenging to anyone
01:40over the age of six. And Lara's design is so distracting that readers probably didn't notice
01:44the other grotesque artwork on the page. 9. Captain America Screws Up His Own Quip
01:50Tales of Suspense No. 92 Have you ever tried to say a clever
01:54comeback but just screwed it up? Although this can definitely be embarrassing, you probably
01:58shouldn't worry about it. After all, this sort of thing can happen to the best of us. I mean,
02:02Captain America is the leader of the Bloomin' Avengers, and even he's been known to mess up
02:06a zinger every once in a while. You see, while on patrol, Cap discovered Nick Fury was being
02:10targeted by an android called the Mechno Assassin, which for the record is one of the worst supervillain
02:15names I've ever heard. But despite hitting the robotic hitman with everything he's got,
02:20the Mechno Assassin batters the super-soldier senseless. Just as Captain America looks like
02:25he's about to give up, he says the line, "'Only one of us is gonna walk out of here,
02:30and it won't be me!' Right, okay, so instead of sounding like a badass, Cap apparently confesses
02:36to suffering from confidence issues mid-fight. Superheroes like Iron Man and Spider-Man have a
02:42knack for doing killer put-downs, but it's obvious that Captain America needs to work on his material
02:46based on this embarrassing exchange.
02:498. Lend Grim Reaper a Hand – Avengers 160
02:53The Grim Reaper may not be a well-known supervillain, but he's easy to recognize
02:57since he's got a bloody scythe in place of his right hand. Now, if you met a guy with a reaping
03:01tool jutting out of his forearm, that seems like the type of thing you'd definitely remember.
03:05Somehow, this detail escaped the attention of the creative team behind Avengers 160.
03:10While the Grim Reaper battles Earth's mightiest heroes in this issue, he pulls off his mask to
03:15reveal that he's Eric Williams, the brother of the Avengers member Wonder Man. We then cut to
03:20a panel of the Reaper putting his mask back on with two regular hands, with his scythe nowhere
03:25to be seen. Wonder Man then batters the Reaper into submission, oblivious that his brother's
03:29hand has just magically grown back. If you really want to play devil's advocate, you could claim
03:34the penciler, the colorist, and the inker of this comic suddenly developed amnesia at this point,
03:39causing them to forget that the character was one-handed. However, this makes this flub all
03:43the more bewildering, since the Grim Reaper is drawn with one hand on the same page.
03:487. That Face – Countdown 36
03:52Countdown is regarded as one of the worst DC events in history. The dialogue is shoddy,
03:58the characterization is unforgivable, and the story is impossible to follow unless you've
04:02read 40 spin-offs, which are all equally as dire. Countdown also contains so much woeful artwork
04:08that we could have easily filled this entire list with entries from that series alone.
04:11But if we had to choose one example, it would have to be the legendarily awful panel from
04:16Countdown number 36. In this issue, Mary Marvel has become corrupted by Black Adam's power,
04:22which encourages her to seek guidance from magic wielder Zatanna. But after she enters Zatanna's
04:27domain, Mary becomes unhinged and grabs at a magic rod, hoping that it will amplify
04:31her magical properties. As the rod's energy surges through her body, Mary's face is filled with a...
04:37well, I don't know what, to be honest. Although Mary is meant to appear elated,
04:40she looks as if she's gotten a little too excited, if you know what I mean,
04:43and that she's following that with a side of bath salts. Because of her goofy smile
04:47and the lack of features across her face, this artwork doesn't look bad,
04:50just looks incomplete and really weird as a result.
04:53Number 6. What's Spider-Man's name again? Amazing Spider-Man number 3.
04:58After creating or co-creating over 600 comic books, you may wonder how Stan Lee was able to
05:03keep track of them all. Well, the simple answer is, he didn't. Despite his influence on the comic
05:08world, Stan the Man has made it clear that he wasn't blessed with a good memory. In Amazing
05:12Spider-Man number 1, Lee referred to our titular hero as Peter Palmer at one point. In another
05:17issue, he called Bruce Banner Bob, forcing him to retcon the character's name. However,
05:22you have to cut Stan Lee some slack. If you had to devise a new character every week for decades at
05:26a time, he'd likely slip up as well. However, it's hard to justify the blunder in Amazing
05:31Spider-Man number 3. This issue is iconic since it debuted one of Spider-Man's greatest foes,
05:36Doctor Octopus. But unfortunately, Otto Octavius' grand reveal is ruined due to a small but
05:41unmistakable spelling mistake. When Spider-Man confronts Doc Ock for the first time,
05:46the tentacled supervillain refers to our hero as Superman. What makes this gaffe funnier is
05:51the fact that Stan Lee placed a hyphen in Spider-Man's name so readers wouldn't mix
05:55his name up with Superman. How embarrassing and deeply ironic.
05:59Number 5. Stephen Hawking, JLA number 38.
06:03After a part of the Justice League's Watchtower blows up, Batman and the other members do
06:07everything they can to stop the entire facility from exploding. While making his way through the
06:11Watchtower, Bats discovers that he's been infiltrated by a supervillain called Prometheus.
06:15Prometheus' helmet is designed so it can download information directly into his brain with the flick
06:20of a switch. And since Prometheus has loaded the device with data on the world's best martial
06:24artists and gymnasts, not even Batman can match his physical skills. Fortunately, the Dark Knight
06:30prepared for this eventuality and had the helmet's program overwritten the instant Prometheus
06:34activated it. So instead of being endowed with the powers of the world's greatest fighters,
06:38Prometheus took on the physical abilities of ALS sufferer Stephen Hawking. Unable to move,
06:44Prometheus was defeated in a single punch. Although Batman's strategy is really clever on
06:49paper, it looks unintentionally hilarious to watch the caped crusader punching a supervillain
06:54whilst yelling Professor Stephen Hawking at the top of his lungs. The panel seems so random out
07:00of context that many would assume it was a piece of fan art or indeed photoshopped. But alas,
07:04that is not the case.
07:054. Doom Just Can't Stop Jammin'
07:08Spidey Super Stories 53
07:10In Spidey Super Stories 53, Dr. Doom tries to form an alliance with Namor the Sub-Mariner,
07:16hoping to use his Atlantean army to take over the world. When Namor refuses to help,
07:21Doom becomes enraged and places a slave collar on him. Unable to break free from his restraints,
07:26Namor is left with no choice but to bring the metal-clad dictator to his kingdom.
07:30And five seconds after the pair arrive at the throne, Doom notices a seahorn on the ground,
07:35and immediately becomes transfixed by it. Although Namor orders Doom to leave it be,
07:39the maniacal monarch ignores his plea and begins tooting the horn, which summons a sea monster.
07:45Now just to reiterate, Dr. Doom was ready to take over Atlantis, but stopped because he wanted to
07:49have a go on a musical instrument he just found lying on the floor. Why would anyone do that? Why
07:54would Dr. Doom, of all people, do that? Also, how is Doom able to play that thing underwater,
08:00and also without lips? Although many entries on this list seem silly out of context,
08:04this is among the few comic book panels that's more ridiculous in context.
08:083. Injustice Gods Among Us 17
08:11It's no surprise comic book series that are released weekly instead of monthly are more
08:15likely to suffer from poor art, since the artists have far less time to finalise their work. So,
08:20if you've found some of the art in a weekly series a little off-putting, it's fair to just
08:24accept it for what it is. But not always, because in the case of Injustice Gods Among Us, there's a
08:30panel of Batman punching a wooden log while a concerned Catwoman looks on from behind. As far
08:34as comic art goes, this setup sounds pretty straightforward, right? Unfortunately, every
08:38aspect of this panel is a bit wonky. Batman's teeth bulge out so much that it looks like he's
08:44wearing a set of dentures ready to pop out. His welling tears look like the eyes of a subterranean
08:49alien. And because of the angle, it's not clear exactly what Batman is doing. It looks like he's
08:54mildly annoyed that his shoulders are spontaneously combusted. Even though Injustice has its fair
08:58share of bad artwork, this panel was so awful, the artist was compelled to redraw it when the
09:04issue was republished. 2. What's Going On With Her Spine?
09:08Ultimates 3, 3 Joe Madureira has made a name for himself in the comic world.
09:13Over the years, he's illustrated some defining stories in the Uncanny X-Men series and the Age
09:17of Apocalypse saga. But even though fans of Big Joe expected great things when he was hired to
09:22illustrate Ultimates 3, all of his creations, well, they came out a bit ugly. Nearly every
09:26character is drawn with such disproportionate muscle structures that they barely resemble
09:31human beings. Despite the fact that there are many, many examples of bad art in this
09:35five-part miniseries, there's one moment in Ultimates 3 that really takes the cake.
09:40While Wolverine recants the time that he met Magneto's wife, we cut to a shot of the pair
09:44getting down to business. Although we only see the silhouette of the two, next to nothing is
09:48left to the imagination here. Not only is this panel borderline pornographic, it doesn't actually
09:52make anatomical sense. Magda's back is arched so obtusely, it's like she's attempting to win a
09:57limbo competition. Her spine is angled at such an impossible angle, you'd swear she was made
10:03out of rubber. 1. What on Earth Is Sandman Doing?
10:07Amazing Spider-Man 215
10:09I mean, just look at this image. There's really nothing to say here. This image speaks for
10:13itself. If you thought a bit of context would help justify this infamous panel, it doesn't.
10:18Amazing Spider-Man 215 opens with Spidey and Namor the Sub-Mariner facing off against Sandman,
10:24the Wizard, Trapster, and Liara. After the Wizard blasts the duo with a disorientating laser,
10:29the corrupt quartet easily make light work of the superhero duo. As Spider-Man attempts to
10:33rise to his feet, Sandman punches him in the back, knocking his nemesis to the ground. Yes,
10:39that's meant to be his back that he's punching right there, not his, uh, well, let's just say
10:43what it is, his web hole. But that's what it looks like, and it will go down forever in infamy.
10:49And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 hilariously bad comic book panels you won't
10:53believe exist. Hope you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the
10:57comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter
11:01but the O is a zero, or Instagram where it's the same handle. Hope to see you over there,
11:05my friends. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome. Never forget that,
11:09and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.